The SPIN Interview: Brandon Flowers

Brandon flowers is on the couch. Both literally -- the dressed-down Killers lead singer is fidgeting on an oxblood leather love seat in the lobby of Hollywood's historic Roosevelt Hotel -- as well as figuratively -- dude can't help but dig deep. "I know I say things that other people don't," confesses Flowers, 27. "I process what I'm thinking and say it anyway. I won't wear a muzzle." And why should he? The Sin City Mormon's proclamations of his band's greatness have made him one of the most recognizable, polarizing, and eminently quotable rock stars of his generation.

And one of the most talented, too, equally at ease with dance-floor fillers ("Somebody Told Me," from the Killers' glossy, Britpop-tinged debut, Hot Fuss), Dustbowl epics ("When You Were Young," off the more ambitious and more divisive Sam's Town), and Pop Art philosophy ("Human," the blockbuster, if lyrically befuddling, lead single from their latest, Day & Age). Yet despite the success, beautiful wife, and year-and-a-half-old son -- Ammon, named after a prince from the Book of Mormon -- Flowers is restless.

"You can't save the world with music," he says, clutching a pillow to his chest. "But I can try. I have the same job as Bruce Springsteen. I have to go as far as I can with it."

How annoying was it that Chinese Democracy came out the same week as Day & Age?
Axl waited 15 years to put his album out the same week as us! I haven't heard Chinese Democracy, but people tell me it sounds like Korn. Axl is all right, though. We hung out with him a few times. We have a Chinese guy playing with us on tour -- Ray Suen. He's been giving me lessons about actual Chinese democracy.

Kanye and Ludacris debuted that week, too. That's some heavy competition.
You can't compete with hip-hop. That doesn't mean I don't want to be as big as a rap star. I do -- I'm always competitive. But there's this weird perception of me as someone who's sitting around plotting like a devil. It's not like that. My music lights a fire under me. When I hear other people, I want to be better than them. I won't apologize for it. It's nothing dirty.

Are you happy with the critical reaction to Day & Age?
It's definitely been more positive than it was for Sam's Town. It will always be difficult to digest the fact that someone's going to hear the album one or two times and then say it's amazing or it's not as good as Hot Fuss. Nobody is ever going to know the album the way I do. People will love it for different reasons.

Seriously, though, how can we humans be "dancer"?
[Laughs] I never thought that line would get so much attention! It just makes such sense to me. It's hard to explain. There was something bionic about it, something extraterrestrial. I knew it wasn't perfect grammar. Worldwide, "Human" is our biggest song ever. I guess somebody gets it.

What's worse: people harping on your grammar or saying you were ripping off Springsteen on Sam's Town?
The reaction to Sam's Town took me to a bad place. But a good thing came from it -- all the anger I had toward what people were saying about the album made me want to prove how good the music was. We would play those songs live with so much fire. In a way, the critics helped make the Killers a great live band.

Do you pay too much attention to what people write?
Yeah. I think too much about it. I'm doing better. I'm thinking less. That's why Day & Age is a fun record. We let our hair down. I wasn't worried about what critics might say or about trying to follow in U2's footsteps.

You sold six million albums your first time out. It took U2 a few years to do that. Would you have preferred more gradual success?